Write Lah!

Unfortunately, I think this might be true.

Wouldn’t you prefer your hard-worked-on novel to stand out on the shelves in a book store or would you want it to be almost invisible amongst all the the other titles?

Not only that but you’d want to the cover to be intriguing enough for someone to pick it up and read the blurb at the back. And from there wander over to the cashier.

So that would mean you’d want 2 things in a book cover:

1. EYE-CATCHING
2. INTRIGUING

It would be the same even if the book is sold online: you’d want someone to click on the title to find out more and add it to the cart.

So when the good people at Penguin SEA came up with 2 options for my novel Vermillion Eyes : 25th Anniversary Edition, I really had to think.

Which cover would you say is both eye-catching and intriguing?

I’m delighted to announce that after an absence of over a decade, my “notorious retrospective” Horror Stories is being published once again.

Not only that, but it has a brand new cover!

I think it’s better than the original.

Spot the difference …

And, yes, there is indeed a brand new introduction which I had much fun writing and it takes us right up to date into 2025.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Amir Muhammad and his Fixi team for having confidence in my stories once more and for making it happen eleven years later.

I’m so delighted that my 20 stories may now slither back out into the world … and hopefully right up your spine!

Some months back Noel Wong from FMT send me an email saying that he wanted to interview me for World Book Day. The result was a compliation of his interview with 3 authors which I’d posted earlier.

I quite enjoyed answering his questions and I thought you might be interested in the full in-depth interview. So here it is:

1. Tunku Halim, can you tell us how your writing journey began? Which authors would you say left the greatest impact on you growing up?

As a young man working for a condo developer, I was struck that how so many people weren’t asking the right questions before they made such a huge investment. So I wrote a book on how to buy apartments and that was published more than 30 years ago. 

Around that time, I was writing short stories. My favourite author then, and still is, was Stephen King. So my stories were spooky ones. The advantage I had was that in Malaysia we have so many myths about ghosts, spirits and demons, that I could write about. So I managed to write not only a collection of short stories but also a novel, Dark Demon Rising. Luckily, there were hardly any local writers in the 1990s and I managed to get my writing published.

2. What is your writing process like? How does a book start in your head and how does it end up on a shelf?

What starts is an idea. A small idea often leads to a short story, a bigger idea may become a novel. Sometimes a small idea can become a big idea. Sometimes a big idea can become a small idea. Or an idea may lead you nowhere!

What’s important is to allow the imagination to flow unimpeded like an ever flowing river. It might end up in a swamp or to a big great ocean, it doesn’t really matter.

From the idea then comes the writing. The marvellous thing is that writing leads to other ideas, which leads to more writing which can give birth to yet new ideas. Writing is actually rewriting. So there should always be a few drafts to a novel, short story collection or work of non-fiction.

Once the manuscript done, I’ll submit it to my publisher who will then edit it for publication. Going through the edits can be a laboriously process and I must admit that I’m quite lazy here and I’ll agree to almost all proposed edits.  

The publisher then proposes a few covers for the book. It’s a sad thing to say that the cover is them most important part of the book. Most people, unfortunately, do judge a book by its cover. So the book cover is vitally important.

The publisher uses a distributor to get books to the shops. If you want readers to see your book on the shelf, let alone buy it, getting your book properly distributed is critical. So many good writers have unsold copies because book shops are not carrying their books or only stock their books for a short while. Book shops tend to focus on what is new or what sells.

Authors religiously use social media to publicise their books. Many authors prefer not to have to market themselves like this but, sadly, this is how things are. As a matter of principal, I’m a social media recluse so this is something I don’t do. I don’t write for sales or money. It’s just something I do.

3. From your point of view, what is the contemporary Malaysian writing scene like? Are we an untapped well of potential or has the golden age of Malaysian penmanship long passed?

I don’t follow the writing scene much so I couldn’t tell you. But I can talk about the reading scene. 

Most Malaysians don’t read. I’m going to guess that not more than 25% would regularly read and, when it comes to fiction, that would probably be less than 20%. And I’m probably being too generous. Many of us blame social media and we’re so hooked on it that we barely have the time for anything else, let alone read. But this sadly low reading level has been with us decades ago and so I won’t point the finger at social media. I think we just haven’t created a reading culture in this country. We can address this not only by cultivating a reading culture at school level by creating neighbourhood libraries nationwide.

4. Suppose someone you know would like to write a book, for the first time. What is one thing they should know beforehand?

They should, of course, learn how to write! Writing is a craft and the only way to improve our writing ability is to write regularly. 

The next thing is what do you want to write about? If it’s non-fiction than it’s got to be something that really interests you, that your point of view is so original and compelling that readers can truly benefit from it. If you’re doing it for fame and money then I suggest becoming an influencer or YouTuber. Writing, especially locally, does not pay nor will it make you famous!

If you want to write fiction then what’s needed is imagination. Then learn the craft of writing. There are lots of resources out there. And keep practising. But don’t write with the idea of wanting to get published. Write because it truly is a wonderful way to spend your time. It is an enriching experience. It is a great hobby and all you need is pen and paper.

But if you really want to write, one tip I’ve always given is that you must be alone. You don’t have to isolate yourself. You can be in a cafe and not know anyone and so, in truth, you’re alone.

As long as your phone is turned on though … you’re not truly alone. It’s always there demanding attention. So turn it off, put it out of sight. At least for the half-and-hour or so you’ve devoting to your writing. Very hard for most of us!

5. World Book Day is also known as World Book and Copyright Day. And copyright has been a matter of discussion lately due to the rise of Generative AI programmes, which have been accused of unethically copying and mimicking the works of living and dead authors without proper accreditation or permission. What are your thoughts on AI? Is it a tool to foster creativity or a threat to creatives? Should the government update copyright laws to protect local creatives?

The question of whether there should be laws preventing AI from mimicking a famous author is a difficult one. Current copyright laws protect content but not writing style so, on the face of it, mimicry would not be a breach of the law. But if the writing and works created so resembles that of an author, it might devalue to author’s books and reputation and so new laws might be necessary. It would be interesting to see how the situation unfolds.

When it comes to new writing, AI is amazing, captivating but very dangerous.

Imagine yourself as a new author but the trouble is that you can’t write well. You can now easily use AI to not only generate story ideas but to write them beautifully and your prospective publisher wouldn’t know if it was AI generated or not. You can, in fact write, an entire novel using AI.

So this creates unfair competition between a would-be author who cannot write and a budding one who can.

Publishers will now be quite dubious, not knowing if the manuscript they receive is AI-generated or not.

This is going to massively affect authors and the books publishing industry.

Well, I couldn’t really … because the famous German author died sixty-two years ago.

But I did manage to visit the small town of Calw, where he was born in 1877.

Calw is a charming place with beautifully painted centuries-old buildings. It has a very walkable historic centre with hardly any cars and no other tourists! Perfect!

There’s a bridge and a river and a plaza named after the author.

Hermann Hesse had written many novels. I’m lucky to have read at least one of them.

Siddhartha is a fascinating novel and written in an achingly beautiful style. I really should read it again.

Calw is actually in the Black Forest in Germany.

And, yes, I did sample some Black Forest cakes … but that’s another story!

This is my first time being interviewed on Free Malaysia Today and here is the article, published in conjunction with World Book Day, together with 2 other authors Shih-Li Kow and Malachi Edwin Vethamani:

PETALING JAYA: Before the days of cinema and television, many kids grew up with their noses in their books. Although films, comics and social media have largely displaced the reading habit, the written word still wields considerable power.

World Book Day celebrates literature as well as the creative minds that produce them. To mark the occasion, FMT Lifestyle caught up with three local authors for their thoughts on the reading culture, what it takes to be a writer and how technology is shaping the literary world today.

Shih-Li Kow of the award-winning “The Sum of Our Follies”, told FMT Lifestyle: “I started writing in my late thirties when I did a workshop on some English books at the time.” Coincidentally, that was where she met her first publisher.

Meanwhile Tunku Halim, Malaysia’s famed horror novelist, said he began writing 30 years ago while working at a condo development firm.

“I was struck by how so many people weren’t asking the right questions before they made such a huge investment.” So, he wrote a book on how to buy apartments! He has since transitioned from real estate tips to spooky stories, inspired by Malaysia’s many supernatural tales.

It was a little different for voracious reader Malachi Edwin Vethamani who said that winning a consolation prize for a national short story competition in 1994 encouraged him to keep writing. “Not so much for the money but that my work had literary merit,” the academic, poet and writer said.

When asked for her thoughts on the current local writing scene, Kow said it was “evolving”. She recalled how short stories were once the trend, with many authors cutting their teeth via anthologies.

“There’s a lot of speculative fiction now and I think writers are more adventurous and freer to write what they want to write. It’s quite an exciting time!”

Malachi concurred, saying the local scene was promising. “It is good to see many Malaysian writers making a presence both in the local and international literary scenes.”

Halim however, lamented that Malaysians, despite participating in educational programmes, have a general disinterest in reading. And as any writer worth his salt knows, reading forms the basis for good writing.

To those hoping to write their first book, Kow asked: “Have you read enough to feel that you have a certain level of competency?”

Similarly, Malachi said that reading is a must before writing as it gives “a good idea on what one is venturing into”.

In addition to learning how to write, Tunku Halim said that one needs a clear idea of what they want to write about and why. “If you’re doing it for fame and money then I suggest becoming an influencer or YouTuber. Writing, especially locally, does not pay nor will it make you famous!”

World Book Day is sometimes called World Book and Copyright Day, with copyright a hot topic due to the emergence of Generative AI programmes.

“AI will never replace authors. It cannot replace the humanity that comes from a living person creating a work of art,” Kow said. She suggested AI be used as a tool, akin to programmes like Microsoft Word and Grammarly, rather than a surrogate writer.

“When it comes to new writing,” said Tunku Halim, “AI is amazing, captivating but very dangerous.” With publishers unable to tell if a draft was AI-generated or not, he said writers were likely going to face increased scrutiny.

Malachi  also warned that while AI makes researching topics convenient, it also makes plagiarism likelier and easier.

“I do not subscribe to using it for creative writing purposes. As a writer, I want to be my own source. Creativity needs to come from the individual writer.”

Support local writers! Check out these works by Kow, Halim and Malachi.